“That’s when we developed special programming,” Kato said. The effort became The Rainbow Project, a child and family counseling clinic on Madison’s near east side that she has led for 46 years.

The organization began in 1980 as the APPLE Project — the Alternative Preschool and Parent Learning Environment — with three staff members in a shared residential office on Williamson Street. It took the Rainbow Project name in 1983. Today, it has 26 staff members and nine programs, and Kato said it works with about 1,500 children and family members each year. Over its history, she estimates, it has served roughly 40,000 children and families affected by abuse, domestic violence, community violence and other trauma.

The project’s first program served children from birth through age 6 and their families. Kato said the clinic has never treated children in isolation from caregivers. Its central focus is building a secure relationship between a child and an adult, which she describes as a protective factor that can lessen the effects of trauma.

The first program’s funding came from federal law enforcement money distributed through the Wisconsin Council on Criminal Justice. City and county funding followed. When the program opened, its slots filled immediately, with 35 families on a waiting list, Kato said. She recalled law enforcement officers and hospital emergency departments seeing families return repeatedly after domestic violence, child abuse and sexual abuse, and recognizing a need for support beyond crisis response.

Rainbow’s work now includes services for children exposed to domestic and sexual violence, abuse and gun violence, as well as trauma from events such as house fires, serious accidents and tornadoes. Kato said the clinic has seen more children affected by gun violence since around 2020 and 2021, including children who were shot, injured accidentally or caught in the line of fire.

“I keep telling people it’s not just those big cities; it’s happening here,” she said.

Families may receive several kinds of help in a week, including classroom support, parenting services and individual or family therapy. Other programs include support for grandparents and relatives raising children, groups for middle school girls, parenting groups and a 10-week course in emotion coaching. Kato said Rainbow tries to tailor services to each family rather than rely on a single model.

Kato’s approach is shaped in part by her own family history. She is a third-generation Japanese American. During World War II, her mother’s family, who lived on the West Coast, was incarcerated for about three years. Kato said her grandfather, an attorney and community leader, was separated from the family. They had little notice before being forced to leave and could bring only one suitcase; much of what they left behind was gone when they returned.

Her mother was a teenager at the time. Kato said the family rarely discussed the experience until her niece interviewed her mother and aunt for a college paper. That history, she said, helps her understand how cultural loss and trauma can shape family life across generations and can help her build trust with families from different backgrounds.

Kato was born and raised on Chicago’s South Side before moving to the city’s North Side. She studied fine arts and art education, then worked in special education before coming to Madison for graduate study in educational psychology. While teaching in Wisconsin schools, she said, she encountered anti-Asian remarks, including comments tied to the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

Rainbow’s work extends beyond Dane County through consultation and training, including work with communities in Wisconsin and abroad. After the tsunami in Japan, mental health workers there sought the organization’s input on the effects of disaster on children, including orphans being adopted. Staff from the Oneida and Ho-Chunk wellness centers have also visited to learn from and adapt aspects of Rainbow’s approach, Kato said.

As the organization approaches its 50th year, Kato said trauma care must address the conditions that contribute to harm, including poverty and racism. She said Rainbow has taken on more advocacy than many mental health providers because the systems surrounding families can themselves be harmful.

“I don’t want to be a gear in a system and unknowingly be a part of something that’s not healthy,” she said.

Funding remains a challenge, Kato said, with the organization having to raise a growing share of its budget over the years. Rainbow also provides community education, including workplace sessions on how adults can talk with children about distressing news.

Kato was named to Madison365’s 2026 list of Wisconsin’s Most Influential Asian American Leaders. She is also involved with several Wisconsin organizations focused on Asian American communities, women of color and children and families.

Rainbow’s signature fundraiser, Rhumba 4 Rainbow, is held each September. Information about volunteering, donating and events is available at therainbowproject.net.